Rinaldo Del Gallo, a self-described “Bernie-style progressive” and former state Senate candidate from Pittsfield, was told by Free Speech Rally organizers he would be able to speak yesterday. But when he arrived, Del Gallo told the Herald’s Dan Atkinson that he wasn’t allowed inside the rally area because his name was not on the speaker list.

“So I’m sitting there with a Bernie Sanders T-shirt on, it’s pretty obvious I’m a progressive, and I’m yelling at police to let me in. … The antifa overheard that and they started screaming at me in my face, at one point in time they were inches away from me yelling, ‘White trash! White trash! White trash!’ … There were 40 people screaming in front of my face, obviously it put me in fear of being harmed. I thought I was going to be lynched, I literally thought many, many people were going to start hitting me, beating me very badly. Eventually I made my way up to a cop and said ‘These people are going to kill me!’ ”

Shortly after that confrontation, Del Gallo said police officers brought him to a secure area where he was loaded into a police van along with other rally participants.

“It was insufferably hot and humid, someone almost vomited. We were in the van for what seemed like half an hour, it seemed like a very long time. There was an angry, violent crowd outside and they were not letting (the police van) leave, I was definitely in fear of my life. It was scary as hell. … It’s brutal, the antifa is a tough, tough crowd. Just as guys on the right have to distance themselves from the alt-right, the left needs to distance itself from the alt-left.”